Obviously, the main goal of your online reputation management plan is to shine a positive light on your business and remove any negativity. Leveraging social media to achieve this goal is essential to your online reputation management strategy, but how do you know which social media sites are the best to use for your business? In this blog post, I will review the top four social media networking sites that are the most trusted in the social media space: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. Let’s begin…

Facebook – Facebook still holds the top position for the most frequently used social media site, therefore being on Facebook is probably a must for your business if you want to step into the social media scene. To get an idea of how to get started, check out Facebook Marketing to learn how to setup your business’ Facebook Page. Facebook Timeline just launched as well, which gives Facebook Pages the format of an online storybook.

Twitter – Next to Facebook, Twitter comes in as a close second. Think of Twitter as your social media news channel because you only have up to 140 characters each time you post a message. It’s quicker to develop your follower base on Twitter because you can easily follow someone, whereas with Facebook, you can’t follow; a person has to “like” you first.

LinkedIn - Not too long ago, LinkedIn offered the capability for companies to setup their own company page. Keep in mind LinkedIn’s audience represents business professionals so make sure your employees create their own LinkedIn profiles and link to your company profile page once you have it setup. Another fact about LinkedIn is there are numerous groups you can join and interact with on a daily basis.

Google Plus – Google Plus is a relatively new social media site through Google, however it is gaining traction among businesses and consumers around the world. It’s pretty easy though to setup your Google Plus brand page. Google Plus is similar to Facebook, although you can create customized circles in which you place groups of people in, so for example, you could have a circle labeled as “Loyal Customers” or even “Possible Customers.” After setting up your various circles, you can tailor your messages to the appropriate circle to maximize your reach.

Three Takeaways

There are tons of other social media sites out there, but I’ve listed the top four that are the most well-known and used among consumers. These are your best options for social media marketing and online reputation management.

Update, update, update. Build out a post schedule so you can update your social media pages frequently (which means more than once a week). If you’re going to have a social media page and not update it, it’s better to not have it at all. Therefore, make a commitment.

Captivate your fans and followers. Promoting your company gets old pretty quick, so don’t do it too often. Instead, ask questions, post pictures, include videos, and more. Close your eyes and pretend you’re the intended target consumer. What would grab your attention?

Last but not least, here’s an infographic for all you visual learners:

Which social media sites are you leveraging for your online reputation? And how do you intrigue your fan base? Share your thoughts in a comment!

About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1.4 million in annual marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (877)655-3438 to schedule a free consultation.